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Created page with "'''James Richard (Jim) Mitchell''' (March 31, 1946 – July 24, 2015), was a lawyer and horse breeder from his adopted city of Leesville, Louisiana, who from 2009..."
'''James Richard (Jim) Mitchell''' (March 31, 1946 – July 24, 2015), was a [[lawyer]] and horse breeder from his adopted city of Leesville, [[Louisiana]], who from 2009 until his death served as a [[judge]] of his state's 30th Judicial District Court.
==Background==
Born in [[Shreveport, Louisiana|Shreveport]] in northwestern Louisiana, Mitchell claims descent from one of the founding families of Vernon Parish.<ref name=judicialcandidacy/> He was one of four sons of Richard and Edna Mitchell; his three brothers are Bob Mitchell of Edmond, [[Oklahoma]], John Mitchell of [[Baton Rouge]], and Tom Mitchell of Breaux Bridge in St. Martin Parish in South Louisiana. He was reared in Baker in East Baton Rouge Parish. As the valedictorian of the 1964 class of Baker High School, he was voted "Most Likely to Succeed". He received his undergraduate degree from [[Louisiana State University]] in Baton Rouge and graduated from the LSU Law Center. Thereafter, he entered the [[United States Army]] during the [[Vietnam War]]. He was a captain in the Judge Advocate General's Corps office at the [[Fort Polk]] base near Leesville.<ref name=bio/><ref name=judicialcandidacy/>
==Career==
In 1974, Mitchell began his law practice in Leesville, which he maintained for thirty-five years until he became judge.<ref name=bio>{{cite web|url=http://obits.theadvocate.com/obituaries/theadvocate/obituary.aspx?n=the-honorable-james-richard-mitchell-jim&pid=175367046|title=The Honorable James Richard "Jim" Mitchell|publisher=''The Baton Rouge Advocate''|date=July 25, 2015|accessdate=July 26, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://30jdc.org/judges.html|title=Judge James R. Mitchell|publisher=30jdc.org|accessdate=July 26, 2015}}</ref> For some three decades, Mitchell was active with the Louisiana Quarter Horse Breeders Association. He served on the national board of the American Quarter Horse Association, based in [[Amarillo]], [[Texas]].<ref name=bio/> His horses, among them Martini Mountain ($421,147), Rakin In Romeo ($152,424), Grits Gator ($206,593), and the show horse Perfectly Suited, earned more than $1.4 million on the racetrack.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stallionesearch.com/default.asp?section=6&story=17671#sthash.uWwgkX57.dpuf|title=Longtime Louisiana Horseman and LQHBA Board Member Jim Mitchell Ill (published the day of Judge Mitchell's death)|publisher=stallionesearch.com|date=July 24, 2015|accessdate=July 26, 2015}}</ref>
In 1996, Mitchell, a [[Republican Party|Republican]], ran unsuccessfully for the 30th Judicial District Court in Division B, having been defeated by the [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] John Ford, 6,388 votes (66.4 percent) to 3,239 (33.6 percent).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://staticresults.sos.la.gov/09211996/09211996_13629.html|title=Election Results|date=September 21, 1996|publisher=Louisiana Secretary of State|accessdate=July 26, 2015}}</ref> In 2008, he ran for the Division C judgeship in the 30th District when the incumbent, Lester Kees, did not seek re-election.<ref name=judicialcandidacy>{{cite web|url=http://www.leesvilledailyleader.com/article/20080710/NEWS/307109992|title=Mitchell aims for District Judge seat|date=July 20, 2008|publisher=''Leesville Daily Leader''|accessdate=August 4, 2017}}</ref>
Mitchell defeated a Democrat (later [[Independent]]), Clay Williams, 5,990 (58.4 percent) to 4,276 (41.6 percent).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://staticresults.sos.la.gov/10042008/10042008_38174.html|title=-Election Results, 30th Judicial District, Division C|publisher=Louisiana Secretary of State|accessdate=July 26, 2015}}</ref> He was unopposed for his second term in 2014.
===Court cases===
On the court for six and a half years, Mitchell handled many complex cases. Through the drug court program, he sought to help youth to overcome [[alcohol]] and [[drug]] [[addiction]].<ref name=bio/>
In 2010, Judge Mitchell sentenced Kendra Hoffpauir, a teacher's aide who confessed to engaging in sexual activity with a 15-year-old pupil, to seven years at hard labor, but he suspended four of those years. Hoffpauir pleaded guilty in Vernon Parish to carnal knowledge and indecent behavior with a juvenile. She had also faced four counts of contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile, a third count of carnal knowledge, and one of oral sexual battery. ''The Leesville Daily Leader'' reported that Mitchell set the sentences to run simultaneously. She was also fined $1,000 on each charge. Hoffpauir was working at Vernon Middle School when she was arrested. Some of the charges stemmed from her previous place of employment, Leesville Junior High School.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legalnews.com/detroit/697510|title=Teacher's aide gets hard labor for sex crime|publisher=legalnews.com|date=September 9, 2010|accessdate=July 26, 2015}}</ref>
In May 2015, the Louisiana Court of Appeal for the Third Circuit in Lake Charles upheld the conviction in Judge Mitchell's court of Jerry Vaughn Clifton (born c. 1937) of [[Anacoco, Louisiana|Anacoco]] in Vernon Parish, a 20-year United States Army veteran who served in the [[Vietnam War]]. In 2014, Mitchell sentenced Clifton to two consecutive 61-months of confinement at hard labor, just over ten years, for double counts of aggravated [[incest]] committed in 2001 against two of Clifton's step-granddaughters. Clifton was charged with the crimes nine years later in 2010 but did not face trial for another four years. He appealed to the circuit court on grounds that there were problems with three jurors biased against him and that the sentence was overly harsh. Speaking for the appeals court, Judge Elizabeth Pickett affirmed the conviction and said that the sentence was fitting for the crimes.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://caselaw.findlaw.com/la-court-of-appeal/1701965.html|title=State of Louisiana v. Jerry Vaughn Clifton|publisher=Caselaw.findlaw.com|date=May 27, 2015|accessdate=July 23, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.leesvilledailyleader.com/article/20140516/NEWS/140519721|title=Jerry Clifton sentenced to 10 years|publisher=''Leesville Daily Leader''|date=May 16, 2014|accessdate=July 20, 2017}}</ref>
==Family and death==
Mitchell was first married the former Laurel Jeanne Drushel (1948–2013), a native of [[Pittsburgh]], [[Pennsylvania]], who in 1958 moved to Baton Rouge with her parents, Harry and Maxime Drushel. She helped to establish the Bridal Boutique in Baton Rouge before moving with her husband to Leesville in 1971. She first attended LSU but obtained bachelor's and master's degrees in [[history]] from Northwestern State University in [[Natchitoches, Louisiana|Natchitoches]]. She taught at the NSU Fort Polk campus and later at Baton Rouge Community College and Lone Star College, a [[community college]] in [[Houston, Texas|Houston]], Texas. She is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Cemetery in Leesville.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jeanesfs.com/PastObituary.aspx?did=8cbbed07-7731-4122-b1a2-75304a9c1e63|title=Memorial for Laurel Jeanne Mitchell|publisher=jeanesfs.com|accessdate=July 26, 2015}}</ref> From this marriage, Judge Mitchell has two daughters, Jennifer Mitchell Canaday (born 1971) and her husband, Niholas, of the capital city of [[Austin, Texas|Austin]], Texas, and Jaymie Mitchell Wright (born 1976) and husband Sam of Leesville.
In 1999, Mitchell married the former Michelle Price Basco and acquired two step-children, Mason Basco and his fiancé, Nicole Crabb, of Leesville, and Amanda Basco Wellman and husband Brett of [[Slagle, Louisiana|Slagle]] in Vernon Parish.<ref name=bio/> Judge Mitchell died of a sudden illness at the age of sixty-nine in Rapides Regional Medical Center in [[Alexandria, Louisiana|Alexandria]], Louisiana.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.leesvilledailyleader.com/article/20150725/NEWS/150729818|title=30th District Judge Jim Mitchell passes away|date=July 25, 2015|publisher=''Leesville Daily Leader''|accessdate=July 26, 2015}}</ref> Services were held on July 28, 2015, at the East Leesville [[Southern Baptist|Baptist]] Church, with interment at Hicks Pentecostal Church Cemetery in the [[unincorporated community]] of [[Hicks, Louisiana|Hicks]] in Vernon Parish.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.leesvilledailyleader.com/article/20150725/NEWS/150729815|title=Obituary: Judge James "Jim" Mitchell|publisher=''Leesville Daily Leader''|accessdate=July 26, 2015}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, James Richard}}
[[Category:Louisiana People]]
[[Category:Judges]]
[[Category:Lawyers]]
[[Category:Horses]]
[[Category:Republicans]]
[[Category:United States Army]]
[[Category:Vietnam War]]
==Background==
Born in [[Shreveport, Louisiana|Shreveport]] in northwestern Louisiana, Mitchell claims descent from one of the founding families of Vernon Parish.<ref name=judicialcandidacy/> He was one of four sons of Richard and Edna Mitchell; his three brothers are Bob Mitchell of Edmond, [[Oklahoma]], John Mitchell of [[Baton Rouge]], and Tom Mitchell of Breaux Bridge in St. Martin Parish in South Louisiana. He was reared in Baker in East Baton Rouge Parish. As the valedictorian of the 1964 class of Baker High School, he was voted "Most Likely to Succeed". He received his undergraduate degree from [[Louisiana State University]] in Baton Rouge and graduated from the LSU Law Center. Thereafter, he entered the [[United States Army]] during the [[Vietnam War]]. He was a captain in the Judge Advocate General's Corps office at the [[Fort Polk]] base near Leesville.<ref name=bio/><ref name=judicialcandidacy/>
==Career==
In 1974, Mitchell began his law practice in Leesville, which he maintained for thirty-five years until he became judge.<ref name=bio>{{cite web|url=http://obits.theadvocate.com/obituaries/theadvocate/obituary.aspx?n=the-honorable-james-richard-mitchell-jim&pid=175367046|title=The Honorable James Richard "Jim" Mitchell|publisher=''The Baton Rouge Advocate''|date=July 25, 2015|accessdate=July 26, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://30jdc.org/judges.html|title=Judge James R. Mitchell|publisher=30jdc.org|accessdate=July 26, 2015}}</ref> For some three decades, Mitchell was active with the Louisiana Quarter Horse Breeders Association. He served on the national board of the American Quarter Horse Association, based in [[Amarillo]], [[Texas]].<ref name=bio/> His horses, among them Martini Mountain ($421,147), Rakin In Romeo ($152,424), Grits Gator ($206,593), and the show horse Perfectly Suited, earned more than $1.4 million on the racetrack.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stallionesearch.com/default.asp?section=6&story=17671#sthash.uWwgkX57.dpuf|title=Longtime Louisiana Horseman and LQHBA Board Member Jim Mitchell Ill (published the day of Judge Mitchell's death)|publisher=stallionesearch.com|date=July 24, 2015|accessdate=July 26, 2015}}</ref>
In 1996, Mitchell, a [[Republican Party|Republican]], ran unsuccessfully for the 30th Judicial District Court in Division B, having been defeated by the [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] John Ford, 6,388 votes (66.4 percent) to 3,239 (33.6 percent).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://staticresults.sos.la.gov/09211996/09211996_13629.html|title=Election Results|date=September 21, 1996|publisher=Louisiana Secretary of State|accessdate=July 26, 2015}}</ref> In 2008, he ran for the Division C judgeship in the 30th District when the incumbent, Lester Kees, did not seek re-election.<ref name=judicialcandidacy>{{cite web|url=http://www.leesvilledailyleader.com/article/20080710/NEWS/307109992|title=Mitchell aims for District Judge seat|date=July 20, 2008|publisher=''Leesville Daily Leader''|accessdate=August 4, 2017}}</ref>
Mitchell defeated a Democrat (later [[Independent]]), Clay Williams, 5,990 (58.4 percent) to 4,276 (41.6 percent).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://staticresults.sos.la.gov/10042008/10042008_38174.html|title=-Election Results, 30th Judicial District, Division C|publisher=Louisiana Secretary of State|accessdate=July 26, 2015}}</ref> He was unopposed for his second term in 2014.
===Court cases===
On the court for six and a half years, Mitchell handled many complex cases. Through the drug court program, he sought to help youth to overcome [[alcohol]] and [[drug]] [[addiction]].<ref name=bio/>
In 2010, Judge Mitchell sentenced Kendra Hoffpauir, a teacher's aide who confessed to engaging in sexual activity with a 15-year-old pupil, to seven years at hard labor, but he suspended four of those years. Hoffpauir pleaded guilty in Vernon Parish to carnal knowledge and indecent behavior with a juvenile. She had also faced four counts of contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile, a third count of carnal knowledge, and one of oral sexual battery. ''The Leesville Daily Leader'' reported that Mitchell set the sentences to run simultaneously. She was also fined $1,000 on each charge. Hoffpauir was working at Vernon Middle School when she was arrested. Some of the charges stemmed from her previous place of employment, Leesville Junior High School.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legalnews.com/detroit/697510|title=Teacher's aide gets hard labor for sex crime|publisher=legalnews.com|date=September 9, 2010|accessdate=July 26, 2015}}</ref>
In May 2015, the Louisiana Court of Appeal for the Third Circuit in Lake Charles upheld the conviction in Judge Mitchell's court of Jerry Vaughn Clifton (born c. 1937) of [[Anacoco, Louisiana|Anacoco]] in Vernon Parish, a 20-year United States Army veteran who served in the [[Vietnam War]]. In 2014, Mitchell sentenced Clifton to two consecutive 61-months of confinement at hard labor, just over ten years, for double counts of aggravated [[incest]] committed in 2001 against two of Clifton's step-granddaughters. Clifton was charged with the crimes nine years later in 2010 but did not face trial for another four years. He appealed to the circuit court on grounds that there were problems with three jurors biased against him and that the sentence was overly harsh. Speaking for the appeals court, Judge Elizabeth Pickett affirmed the conviction and said that the sentence was fitting for the crimes.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://caselaw.findlaw.com/la-court-of-appeal/1701965.html|title=State of Louisiana v. Jerry Vaughn Clifton|publisher=Caselaw.findlaw.com|date=May 27, 2015|accessdate=July 23, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.leesvilledailyleader.com/article/20140516/NEWS/140519721|title=Jerry Clifton sentenced to 10 years|publisher=''Leesville Daily Leader''|date=May 16, 2014|accessdate=July 20, 2017}}</ref>
==Family and death==
Mitchell was first married the former Laurel Jeanne Drushel (1948–2013), a native of [[Pittsburgh]], [[Pennsylvania]], who in 1958 moved to Baton Rouge with her parents, Harry and Maxime Drushel. She helped to establish the Bridal Boutique in Baton Rouge before moving with her husband to Leesville in 1971. She first attended LSU but obtained bachelor's and master's degrees in [[history]] from Northwestern State University in [[Natchitoches, Louisiana|Natchitoches]]. She taught at the NSU Fort Polk campus and later at Baton Rouge Community College and Lone Star College, a [[community college]] in [[Houston, Texas|Houston]], Texas. She is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Cemetery in Leesville.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jeanesfs.com/PastObituary.aspx?did=8cbbed07-7731-4122-b1a2-75304a9c1e63|title=Memorial for Laurel Jeanne Mitchell|publisher=jeanesfs.com|accessdate=July 26, 2015}}</ref> From this marriage, Judge Mitchell has two daughters, Jennifer Mitchell Canaday (born 1971) and her husband, Niholas, of the capital city of [[Austin, Texas|Austin]], Texas, and Jaymie Mitchell Wright (born 1976) and husband Sam of Leesville.
In 1999, Mitchell married the former Michelle Price Basco and acquired two step-children, Mason Basco and his fiancé, Nicole Crabb, of Leesville, and Amanda Basco Wellman and husband Brett of [[Slagle, Louisiana|Slagle]] in Vernon Parish.<ref name=bio/> Judge Mitchell died of a sudden illness at the age of sixty-nine in Rapides Regional Medical Center in [[Alexandria, Louisiana|Alexandria]], Louisiana.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.leesvilledailyleader.com/article/20150725/NEWS/150729818|title=30th District Judge Jim Mitchell passes away|date=July 25, 2015|publisher=''Leesville Daily Leader''|accessdate=July 26, 2015}}</ref> Services were held on July 28, 2015, at the East Leesville [[Southern Baptist|Baptist]] Church, with interment at Hicks Pentecostal Church Cemetery in the [[unincorporated community]] of [[Hicks, Louisiana|Hicks]] in Vernon Parish.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.leesvilledailyleader.com/article/20150725/NEWS/150729815|title=Obituary: Judge James "Jim" Mitchell|publisher=''Leesville Daily Leader''|accessdate=July 26, 2015}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, James Richard}}
[[Category:Louisiana People]]
[[Category:Judges]]
[[Category:Lawyers]]
[[Category:Horses]]
[[Category:Republicans]]
[[Category:United States Army]]
[[Category:Vietnam War]]